Electrobrass 2018

      Founded in the Fall of 2016, Flower City Brass is a professional brass quintet comprising both current and former graduate students of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.  Flower City Brass continues to be an eclectic outlet for brass chamber music, offering creative performances of a highly diverse repertoire spanning from J.S. Bach to Luciano Berio.  Most recently, the quintet was featured with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, performing Jeff Tyzik's New York Cityscape.  In the summer of 2017, FCB was a featured ensemble at the Brass in Frankenwald festival, hosted by Rekkenze Brass, where they actively took part in coaching sessions, chambers classes, and public performances throughout Lichtenberg, Germany. 

​

• https://www.scfelix.com/fcb.html

      Ryan Holsopple is working in the space between theatre, performance and film and while his work employs Max on a most sophisticated level the extent of the technology is invisible to the audience. Ryan has worked as a performer, designer and creator of performance in New York City since the late nineties. A graduate of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (MPS), Ryan also has a BFA in acting from East Carolina University. Nominated for the 2011 Hewes Design Award for sound design of 31 Down's Here At Home, presented by the The Bushwick Starr. Awarded a Best Of New York 2007 by the Village Voice for Canal Street Station, an interactive telephone murder mystery set in the New York Subway system. Performed for Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater in two works, Maria Del Bosco (2002) and Panic!(how to be happy)(2003). 

​

• https://cycling74.com/forums/an-interview-with-ryan-holsopple/

​

• http://31down.org/

      John Baylies intertwines the sonorous sounds of low brass with the ancient tones of the didgeridoo, and often incorporates live audio effects with various MIDI controllers. He busked extensively after graduating from Boston University with a bachelors degree in tuba performance, which led to regular gigs with diverse brass and marching bands. Keiichi Hashimoto met John at a few of those gigs and asked him to play in a rootsy free improv trio centered around an interactive sculptural installation. John had a blast, and dug into the scene. One night, at a basement jam sesh, he was introduced to Erik Nugent, the inventor of the chromatic didgeridoo. 
      Erik’s goal of bringing chromaticism to the didgeridoo and John’s interest in utilizing didgeridoo techniques on the tuba merged excitingly. Erik crafted nu mouthpiece prototypes with his lathe, and John gave feedback about the designs. They launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, exhibited at ITEC and ITF, and as of now, about 70 musicians are supporting a catalyst for the fusion of two sonic worlds.

​

• http://jbaylies.wixsite.com/tuba

      Ben Casey is a Brooklyn-based electronic musician, Ableton Certified Trainer, and overall music tech nerd. When he’s not surrounded by wires and drum machines or tinkering with Max for Live, Ben teaches Ableton Live to musicians across all genres, from avant-garde to zydeco.
     While living in London he earned an MMUS from Goldsmiths University, and released tracks on the inscrutable UK-based label Werk Discs. Upon returning to the US, he founded a boutique electronic instrument business.
     A Live user since its very beginning, Ben is always happy to show off his boxed copy of Version 1. He works with Grammy-winning artists to integrate Live into their existing production and performance workflows, consulting on numerous live tours, theater productions, and art installations.
     With a focus on teaching the tips and tricks that allow musicians at any skill level to harness the power of Live, Ben is available for one-on-one sessions and group lessons in person, or Skype lessons worldwide.

​

• https://www.ableton.com/en/certified-training/ben-casey/

      Andrew Hitz is an internationally renowned soloist, clinician and speaker having appeared in over 40 states and 30 countries including Japan, Brazil, Russia and Singapore. In 2014, he ended a 14-year tenure as the tuba player for Boston Brass. Andrew has also appeared with the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Utah Symphony, U.S. Army Field Band, U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West, Dallas Brass, Alarm Will Sound and as a soloist with the Marine Band of Mexico.
      As an Educational Ambassador for Jupiter Band Instruments, Andrew appears all over the world as both a teacher and performer. He has presented at over 20 state music educator conferences and taught master classes at some of the finest music schools in the world including Juilliard, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. Andrew has also spoken about the music business and entrepreneurship at many colleges and universities including Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon and the University of South Carolina, where he appeared as a thought leader specializing in marketing and social media at David Cutler's The Savvy Musician In Action Retreat.
      Andrew hosts two podcasts through his latest venture, Pedal Note Media, a digital media company founded with former Boston Brass colleague Lance LaDuke. Pedal Note Media provides products and programs to educate, entertain and inspire music teachers, players and fans. "The Brass Junkies" is a podcast interviewing the best brass players in the world on everything from the serious to the ridiculous, just like the music business. Previous guests have included Joe Alessi, Carol Jantsch and Marty Hackleman. The other is "The Entrepreneurial Musician" which features interviews with some of the most successful people in the music business. 

​

• http://www.andrewhitz.com

     Brian Wolff first discovered the tuba at a music store in Austin, Texas. It was the summer of 1994, one of the hottest July's on record. And Wolff, whether deranged by the heat or the instruments sumptuous curves and shiny bell, knew instantly and inexplicably that he would dedicate the rest of his life to the pursuit of Tuba Stardom.
     Knowing little of the tuba itself, he had few preconceived notions of the tuba's roll in music and thus was under the impression that, as a creator of sound, the tuba had no limitations at all. Wolff quickly dove in, starting a band with old friend Tony Nozero. They called themselves Just Drums and Tuba. Soon they added a guitar player and summarily dropped the "Just" from their name.
     The band developed a visceral blend of old brass and new electronics, and toured the world extensively with Cake, Primus, Ani DiFranco among many others, building a fierce underground following in the process. But as over 50% of the marriages in the United States are wont to do, Drums and Tuba eventually packed it in and went their separate ways. Determined to strike out on his own in pursuit of the aforementioned Tuba Stardom, Wolff conceived of a solo act appropriately entitled "Wolff and Tuba."
     He returned to New York and barricaded the door to his apartment, emerging only after he had perfected a solo electronic tuba rock show whereby all sounds were produced by, with, through, and on the tuba. The music was created live by banging, beat-boxing, or singing through the tuba as well also playing the tuba in a more conventional manner. With the use of loop pedals, Wolff was able to tie all these disparate sounds together, forming music that was both out there (somewhere) and yet rooted in traditional song structures and strong melodies.
     Wolff's friend David Harris once said there was a mythical brass ceiling in the sky that dictated how big a star you could become when you've dedicated your life to playing the tuba. Wolff has spent his career wrestling with those demons in the sky in a strangely bewildering but fulfilling quest to discover what wonders lie beyond the brass ceiling.

​

• http://www.wolffandtuba.com

Aaron Rourk - Warding Off Evil Sprits

    This performance will make use of live recorded audio samples as fodder for spontaneous music making between improvisers using tools that are different in constitution, but who are engaged in the same process of instantaneous creation, blurring temporal lines as the past is returned to the present, setting a new course of events spiraling into the future.

​

Christopher Jette - Fluor Sonoescence
    Fluor Sonoescence started as a series of sustained tones on a brass instrument that were visualized as smoke clouds by placing smoke into the horn. The smoke was then illuminated by a laser and the image was captured with a high frame-rate camera and then transcribed into a movie format. Using the spectral centroid of the smoke mass, the video serves as the basis of pitch content for the trombone. Using blob detection, the movie is used as a generative source for a layer of the fixed electronics. In performance, the trombone is presented along with the video, fixed electronics and the trombone is processed in realtime. The realtime processing is used to create continuity between the electronic timbre and the trombone timbre. The live processing uses many of the same processes (including waveshaping, spectral bin shifting, a feedback loop, pitch shifting and convolution) that were used in creating the fixed elements. In concert the performer is provided with a Max patch that which realizes the live processing while providing playback of the fixed video and sonic materials. Fluor Sonoescence begins as sound and through transformations into and out of the visual domain, the concert work is sculpted. The audience is presented with a series of visual and sonic artifacts which combine in the translation process and in the moment of performance.

​

Sam Wells - Light is Like Water
    Strange Pilgrims is an on-going series of works for trumpet and interactive electronics based on Gabriel García Márquez’s short story collection of the same title. In one story, "Light is Like Water," two brothers discover that they can fill their room with light by turning on a faucet, as one can do with water. This liquid light becomes a surreal environment in which they swim and dive. The musical interpretation of this experience begins with volatile, electric sparks of energy that cohere into a glassy and fluid texture that trumpeter explores.

​

Jeffrey D Boehm - Riots
    RIOTS was written as a contribution to the book, Find Another Bath, which is a compilation of artworks from several artists in Bath, United Kingdom. The artwork in the book was created by the artists' in reaction to various times and events throughout Bath's long history. This piece is my reaction to the period of the Luddite Rebellions which occurred throughout the UK at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Bath's woollen mills were among the more advanced mills in the country, so worker acceptance of the machines against which the Luddites were rebelling was well in hand. However, mill owners, whose lives were threatened, from violent surrounding areas moved to Bath which had a safer environment as well as a militia. Riots is intended to reflect the contradictions of the environment of Bath and the surrounding communities, therefore there are sections of repose and sections of riot. The article that I read in my initial research spoke of three mill owners in Bath, hence three repose sections. The role of the trumpet in each repose section changes from the forefront to the background. This change is intended to reflect the changing environments as the riots began to dissipate and people began to accept the changes being foisted upon them.The end of the piece is meant to illustrate both the fading of the intensity of opposition and the melding of new technologies into the daily and work life of the Industrial Age.
    Sounds heard at the beginning and in transition sections are from recordings done in the last woollen mill in Bath in 1953. Many thanks to the Museum of Bath at Work for allowing me to utilise these recordings in my piece. The multiple rhythms in the riot sections are derived from these recordings, programmed into numerous iterations of drum machines and then run through synthesisers. The piece was composed and produced entirely in Propellerhead’s Reason, the only non-Reason instrument used was a Minibrute from Arturia. The flugelhorn ensemble was recorded by me.

​

Jacob Elkin - Things That Might Have Been
    Things that might have been is an improvisational work which challenges the performers to express themselves in a vulnerable and candid way. The live electronics are programmed to vary greatly with each performance in timbre and spatialization. This provides a unique opportunity for improvisers to interact with the concert space and connect individually with audience members. The improvised part may be performed on any instrument or by any vocalist. The Supercollider patch can be edited to work for any number of channels. However 8 monitors in a circle around the audience is ideal.

    Composer/performer Ben Neill is the inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument, and is widely recognized as a musical innovator through his recordings, performances and installations. Neill’s music blends influences from electronic, jazz, and minimalist music, blurring the lines between digital media and acoustic instrument performance.

    Neill began developing the mutantrumpet in the early 1980s with synthesizer inventor Robert Moog. In 1992, while in residency at the STEIM research and development lab for new instruments in Amsterdam, Neill made the mutantrumpet fully computer interactive. In 2008 he created a new version of his instrument at STEIM, and is currently working on a new version that will debut in 2019.  
    Neill has recorded ten CDs of his music on labels including Universal/Verve, Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, and Six Degrees. Performances include Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall, BAM Next Wave Festival, Lincoln Center,  Cite de la Musique Paris, Moogfest, Spoleto Festival, Umbria Jazz, Bang On A Can Festival, ICA London, Istanbul Jazz Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival, among many others. He has worked closely with many musical innovators including La Monte Young, John Cage, John Cale, Pauline Oliveros, Rhys Chatham, DJ Spooky, David Berhman, Mimi Goese, King Britt, and Nicolas Collins. ITSOFOMO, his major collaborative piece with the late visual artist David Wojnarowicz, was recently presented at the Whitney Museum. Neill also leads concerts of La Monte Young’s The Second Dream with an international ensemble of 8 trumpet players. 
    A native of North Carolina, Neill is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music. Since 2008 he has been a music professor at Ramapo College of New Jersey. 

​

​

    New York born and raised, Nicolas Collins spent most of the 1990s in Europe, where he was Visiting Artistic Director of Stichting STEIM (Amsterdam), and a DAAD composer-in-residence in Berlin. An early adopter of microcomputers for live performance, Collins also makes use of homemade electronic circuitry and conventional acoustic instruments. He is editor-in-chief of the Leonardo Music Journal, and a Professor in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His book, Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking (Routledge), has influenced emerging electronic music worldwide. Collins’ indecisive career trajectory is reflected in his having played at both CBGB and the Concertgebouw.

    HornFX is a unique resource for the horn player looking to use effects. Our reviews, rankings, articles, artist pages, and effects databases are specifically geared to inform any horn player about what effect might best provide the sounds and capabilities they are looking for. Any one pedal can perform differently and have different applications from a saxophone, trumpet, or trombone perspective, and it is our goal to give the most comprehensive, complete, well thought out information and advice to the pedal seeking horn player.
    Talk to any guitarist or bassist for two minutes about their pedals and you will quickly realize that the world of effects is one of never-ending experimentation and opportunity.  But the more you learn, you will begin to realize that in spite of your friends’ wealth of knowledge, much of what he or she knows may not apply to you as a horn player for a variety of reasons. The number of professional horn players utilizing some sort of effects pedal setup is steadily growing, but it is still a vastly unexplored frontier.  This makes the horn effects world an exciting but difficult one to navigate for those of us interested in maximizing our live performance potential.
    HornFX is run by Aaron Janik and Douglas Levin.

​

• http://www.horn-fx.com/

     Named after his seminal band from the early 2000's in which he developed and honed his signature Firebird slide trumpet/effects pedals sound, Indofunk Satish has continued to push the boundaries of what a trumpet can and should sound like. His solo release, The Soundtrack of My Life, and a pair of releases from bicontinental duo Urban Jungle, illustrate his explorations in sound and electronic processing. His current effects project, Radio Free Tibet, will be featured at this year's Electrobrass afterparty.
     In addition to accurately recreating Indian-style ornaments on his Firebird and bending minds with his effects, Satish plays more conventional sounds with rock, funk, Americana, and brass bands throughout the world. In his presentation, Satish will examine a fictitious conversation between a guitar who has it all and a trumpet who just wants to spice up his life.

​

• http://www.indofunksatish.com/

Jillian Marie Kelleher is a Music Marketing & Event specialist with over 13 years of experience driving brand messaging and content. She currently serves as the Head of Partnerships & Development at Endless Riff, a VR Music + Media platform that provides an entirely new way of experiencing live, recorded, and self-captured content, across all genres. She is also the Founder of Connector Entertainment Group, a boutique consulting agency that focuses on community building, talent relations, brand partnerships and event services for global brands like: Spotify, The Music Business Association, Daybreaker, AC Entertainment, HBO, Rolling Stone, Viacom, Moët Hennessy, Evian and AHAVA Skincare. 

From 2009-2014, Jillian handled Events & Programming for the New Music Seminar, an invite-only music industry conference gathering over 1,500 top music industry executives annually to discuss emerging music business trends. She also served as the Head of East Coast Sales & Partnerships for GradCity.com, the largest student travel company in the US, reaching over 2.6 million millennials annually. 

Prior to that, she was the Director of Marketing & Development for Tainted Blue Recording Studio (QUAD Penthouse - Times Sq) where she worked directly with top-talent, including: Casadee Pope, Rob Thomas, Rachel Platten, Neon Trees, John Legend, Jonathan Batiste, Diane Birch, James Genus, Melanie Fiona, Kate Nash, J. Cole and many more.

She is passionate about music education in schools and previously spent 7 years volunteering as the Head of Programming & Events for Music Unites (www.musicunites.org), a nonprofit organization that brings music programs to underfunded inner-city schools nationwide. She currently sits on the grants review committee for the Give A Note Foundation (www.giveanote.org), which funds highly innovative music education programs in public schools. 

She graduated from James Madison University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications & Public Relations with a minor in French. In 2004 she moved to Cannes, France to study French Language and Culture at Le College International de Cannes. She currently splits time between New York City and Nashville, TN. You can follow her online @JMKMusic or on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianmariekelleher
 

     The InfiniSphere™ is the first trombone created specifically for use with electronics. Designed by Justin McAdara and created by B.A.C. Musical Instruments, this new instrument will open up a whole new palette of sonic colors and create a road-worthy instrument that can be used on a daily basis. The removable sphere creates an incredibly free-blowing acoustic deadener and allows the trombone to play like a regular trombone but without the issues of feedback from a separate microphone or faulty jacks from practice mutes. The PiezoBarrel pickup creates a road-worthy and consistent pickup for the InfiniSphere™.  It is easily installed and is the best quality pickup for using electronics.

​

• http://socband.com/infinisphere/

    Stella is a project begun by David Baylies in the summer of 2016. The project aims to allow trumpet players to control synthesized tones via MIDI using conventional trumpet technique. The code is currently open software, and the hardware is in the works to be sold, allowing tinkerers to play and modify Stella as they see fit. In the mean time, all are welcome to manufacture their own versions of Stella.

​

• https://www.openstella.com/

     Amplituba is the amplified, totally improvised solo tuba project of Bill Pritchard.  “Pritchard is a freelance tubist in the Atlanta, Georgia area and is on faculty at Talladega College. He also is the tubist for Midtown Brass and the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra. He is an artist for the Eastman Music Company and Parker Mouthpieces, both of which were the equipment used in Amplituba. Prichard continues to push the boundaries on what the tuba is capable of doing, as demonstrated in Amplituba. Amplituba is a collection of four improvised tracks utilizing amplification and other electronic effects such as reverb pedals, distortion, delays, and looping. Several of these effects assist in changing the timbre of the instrument and allows the tubist to self accompany their performance. Amplituba is a great example of a way to help the tuba appeal to audiences interested music outside of the classical genre. It also provides performance ideas for those wishing to evolve the traditional role of of the tuba. Amplituba is a very unique release that will change the way a listener hears and perceives the tuba.”

    -Dr. James M. Green, Ohio Northern University

​

• https://www.facebook.com/Amplituba/

Take a break,

play through some pedal effects,

try out virtual reality,

check out the merch table,

and more!

9:30pm - Mind is the Maker
     Andy Milk (singer/multi-instrumentalist, THE VITAL MIGHT/Put Together) and Jeff Stineback (drums, keys, Harriet Street/New Blood) make up this duo combining 80s indie rock and pop with current day beats and techniques. Inspired by Talking Heads, Childish Gambino, Bon Iver, 90s slow jams.

 

• https://www.facebook.com/mindisthemaker/

 

10:30pm - Radio Free Tibet

     “Do you remember when the 60's were experimental and mind-trippy? We do.”

Dan Jones - guitar & effects 

Luigi Gennaro - drums & percussion 

Indofunk Satish - Firebird trumpet & effects

​

• https://radiofreetibet.bandcamp.com/

 

​

11pm - Sojourner

     Sojourner is a saxophonist/DJ who hails from Vegas. Various musicians from the Electrobrass Conference will be joining him on stage throughout the night to contribute their soulful improvisations to his seamless grooves. His eclectic influences include Debussy, Zappa, Mingus, The Avalanches, John Coltrane, Raja Ram, Tipper, Tame Impala, Chris Thile, Smoke City, Robert Randolph, Daft Punk, Bill Withers, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Gogol Bordello, The Flaming Lips, Primus, Gnarls Barkley, Mulutu Astatke, Gorillaz, and more.

​

• https://www.facebook.com/sojournermusicpage/